Communities often find it challenging to secure resources to support early-stage initiatives and innovative efforts around Age- and Dementia Friendly efforts. The Tufts Health Plan Foundation created the Momentum Fund to address this gap.

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Periodically, the Healthy Aging Collaborative will share news articles from local efforts to make cities, towns and regions in Massachusetts Age- and Dementia Friendly.

Check out the following articles from late January on the momentum of this movement building across the state.

• Marshall Home Fund seeks Age-Friendly Community projects (Watertown TAB)
• Brookline’s rising senior population demands housing (Brookline TAB)
• As Massachusetts joins AARP ‘Age-Friendly’ network, Dartmouth does its part (SouthCoast Today)
• Cities of the Future: Winners of the ‘Future City’ New England Regional Competition (Sun-Chronicle/Foxboro Reporter)

With support from AARP, the University of Michigan launched the National Poll on Healthy Aging to help inform the public, health care providers, policymakers, and senior advocates on issues related to health, health care and health policy affecting Americans 50 years of age and older.

The project began in the Spring of 2017 and started issuing reports monthly on specific issues to highlight survey results, which are gathered multiple times throughout the year.

The latest of those reports focuses on Dementia caregivers and breaks down data on who caregivers are and their views on stress, whether their tasks are rewarding, and the health implications.

Here are some samples of the findings:

• Nearly all of those surveyed (91%) felt that being a caregiver has made them think about their own potential needs for caregiving in the future.
• One in four caregivers (27%) reported delaying or not doing things they should do for their health.
• Overall, 27% of caregivers had used caregiving resources in the past year such as self-help resources, family therapy, classes or trainings, support groups, and/or respite care; 41% of those who had not used any caregiving resources indicated an interest in using them.

The Massachusetts Falls Prevention Coalition is hosting the annual Falls Prevention Awareness Day at the State House on September 19th with resources, live demonstrations and speakers sharing prevention methods and best practices.

The program will kick off at 10:00 am at the Grand Staircase and Great Hall of the State House. This is the 11th year the event is taking place and is especially timely with a recent release of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention citing an increase in deaths resulting from unintentional falls for adults 65 and older by almost 5% per year. Continue reading →

An aging population means an aging workforce, but an Op-Ed in the Boston Business Journal explains how this is not so much a challenge as it is an economic benefit as well as a chance to reverse ageist attitudes.

Lydia Greene, SVP, Chief Human Resources Officer for Tufts Health Plan, responded to an article from August 10th in the BBJ titled “Gray matters: An aging workforce has Mass. companies scrambling to deal with ‘silver tsunami’.” Greene begins by addressing the fact that an aging population and workforce is “an opportunity, not a natural disaster.”

Greene then points out the business case for older workers and a call for Massachusetts to lead the way for taking advantage of the positives that older workers bring.

“As a region, we are known for ingenuity and resourcefulness,” Greene writes. “Let’s lead the way in establishing age-friendly business practices to help us meet the needs of all generations.”